The economy, pretty much at a dead stop until may, maybe longer. The market is looking to the other side of the virus problem and surely welcomes more financial help. However, stocks are ending the worst month since 2008 and the dow will open lower this morning, off maybe 140 points. Similar story for the s p and for the nasdaq. A down opening bell today. The price of oil, well, that remains at depression levels. This morning we are in the low 20 per barrel and the average price of gasoline, you got to look at this, the National Average gas price has dropped below 2 a gallon. 1. 99, thats your number this morning. The price is dropping about two cents a day but so what . Demand has cratered, the roads are empty, and few people are taking advantage of dirtcheap gas. Now, this caused a stir yesterday. The u. S. Navy hospital ship arrived in new york and was greeted by crowds of onlookers. They were breaking social distancing rules. Those people who were holed up in their apartments and houses expressed some outrage at this and the police tried to break things up. Its come to that in new york. But heres a very big positive. The president demonstrated a new test which takes just minutes for the results to come through. That is a major breakthrough on the testing front. On the program today, new stimulus, the outlook for your 401 k , the latest on stayathome rules. More and more states are clamping down. Economically america is at a standstill for the next month. All right. Now listen to what President Trump had to say about the month ahead. Roll that tape. By very vigorously following these guidelines, we could save more than one million american lives. We will have a great victory. We have no other choice. Every one of us has a role to play in winning this war. Every citizen, family and business can make the difference in stopping the virus. This is our shared patriotic duty, challenging times are ahead for the next 30 days and this is a very vital 30 days. Were sort of putting it all on the line this 30 days. So important because we have to get back. Stuart we have to get back. You heard it right there from the president. I want to bring in brad blakeman. Brad, this is going to be a tough month for the president with a lot of bad Economic News coming, and a bad month or difficult month, i should say, politically for the president. You agree . Yes, i do. But i think brighter days are ahead. The president is doing everything he can, an all hands on deck approach, and lets face it the sacrifices we are asked to make as americans today pales in comparison to those who came before us. Vietnam, world war ii, the civil war, our very founding as a nation. So our sacrifices pale and we are doing a great job. America has come together. You dont see looting or panic in the streets. Theres a calm because the president has put a great Team Together and we are pulling out no stops in order to not only defeat this virus but also to get back on track economically. Stuart okay, brad, the audio is not clear to me so i couldnt quite hear exactly what you said. But i take it that was a fine answer to the question. Brad, hold on a second. I want to bring in Scott Shellady, market watcher of the moment. Its going to be a tough month ahead, scott. Can you tell me how bad its going to be . Well, im a positive person. You know me. Id like to think this is going to be okay but you know, each week that goes by is going to be devastating to the economy. What im going to like about this month, we will start to get empirical evidence about how damaging this is going to be. The president is between a rock and a hard place. He either has to solve for the virus or open up some parts of the economy, at least some parts of the economy or the economy, and slowly but surely i think you will start to see those numbers come in, they will sway that pendulum towards the end of the month where he will have to start saying we will have to start opening up parts, at least parts of the economy, because all the stimulus packages and all of these things that congress is doing, they are just bandaids. Everybody from the guy that took me here this morning in the car to the guy behind the counter last night, they just would rather have the economy opened up again. They dont want the stimulus money. Stuart all right. Thanks very much, scott. Now, there are some new stayathome orders. Ashley, who is ordered to stay at home now . Ashley yeah. The list grows longer and longer, stu. Now we have maryland, d. C. And virginia. The virginia governor, governor ralph northam, issuing a stayathome until to last until june 10th. I repeat, june 10th. Thats the longest order so far in the country. He says quote, i want everyone to hear me, period, stay home. Marylands Governor Hogan says look, we have in those three states, 450,000 or thereabouts federal workers and he said if we have the kind of pandemic outbreak we are seeing in new york, it would be catastrophic. All of those states saying they will fine and will impose jail time if people continue to ignore those orders. More than 30 states now have stayathome, more than 225 Million People across the country. Stuart all right. Ashley, thanks very much indeed. We have a small audio problem on my end. We are going to take a commercial break and sort it out. Well be back on the other side after this. Has stood strong through every dark hour and bright dawn our country has endured. It has seen the break in the clouds before anyone else. For the past 168 years, weve also stood by you, helping you weather storms like this one, to protect your loved ones. And well do it for 168 more. Helping you weather storms like this one, to helcoronavirus intod your xfinity voice remote say to access Important Information and special reports from around the world. And to keep your kids learning at home, say education to discover learning collections for all ages from our partners at common sense media, curiosity stream, history vault, reading corner and many others. For more information on how you can stay connected, visit xfinity. Com prepare. Ashley while we wait for stu to sort out his audio problems, lets bring in lauren simonetti. You have an update on the payroll grants that are very much hurting Airline Sector . Lauren treasury last night said hey, airlines, if you want part of this 2 trillion relief package, you need to apply for your grant money by friday at 5 00 p. M. , or risk a big delay, or not getting it at all. That money is contingent on several items. One item being that the airlines cannot lay off employees between tomorrow and the end of september so a sixmonth period. You need to keep your payroll if you want that grant money. Blake berman, our d. C. Reporter, is reporting that what is missing from this package is the potential government equity stake in the airlines but right now, theyre talking and trying to get the money out as fast as possible and we will work out the details later. Ashley yeah, thats going to be a big step if they decide to actually take a stake in these airlines. We will see whether it comes to that. Anyway, lauren, thank you very much. Again, just want to tell our viewers stu is sorting out his audio problems now. He will be back shortly. Lets bring in susan li. We saw video of the president showing off the new abbott labs coronavirus test. Whats that about . Susan yeah, great infomercial at the rose garden, five minute rapid test that took place. It can basically detect coronavirus in five minutes, it can test for negative test results in 13 minutes. This is going to be a game changer. They will make it available on april 1st. 50,000 each and every day, since we know the u. S. Has lagged other economies and other countries including south korea when it comes to testing. Also, boy the way, the secretary of health and Human Services saying one million americans have been tested but obviously that number needs to go up in order to contain the coronavirus spread. Ashley thank you very much. Lets bring back Scott Shellady, intrepid market watcher. We know its a tough month ahead but talk of maybe another round of stimulus, does that get you excited . We have on the one hand the economy shut down and on the other hand, the amount of stimulus, how much do we need in order to recover at least offset the shutdown . Whats your feeling . My feeling is that look, i will take whatever they want to give you. No one is going to say no to a handout. The problem is that the economy isnt flowing well enough for that money to really get around the economy like it normally would have had the economy been open for business. So its going to get stuck and clogged along the way and wont have the impact it would have if we had things open and ready to go. So number one, the amount of money we are spending concerns me but number two, the rush to lose your Civil Liberties also concerns me. So i just feel like at the end of this year, we are going to have less rights and we are going to have to pay more for them through taxes to make up for all the money we are spending today. Less rights and having it cost me more doesnt make me feel really good for this month of april. Stuart wait a second, scott. Wait a second. Im just coming into this. We had a small audio problem but i heard what youve got to say. These are extraordinary times. When in history have we shut down the entire economy for weeks and weeks on end . Doesnt that make for special conditions requiring a special amount of money, a special rescue package . We cant be pulling back at this stage. No, i will take whatever they give me. No one is going to say no to a handout, stuart. But there has to be okay. Hes going to call himself war president and i agree with that, right, but war president s have to make difficult wartime decisions and at some point in time, all im saying is theres going to have to be a decision made for the greater good of the country. Just like you do with a new medicine. Yeah, it might kill some people but its going to make some people healthy, lets release it. Or like you do when you raise the speed limit from 55 to 65. Its for the greater good but theres going to be more deaths. So we are going to have to make some very difficult decisions here and these are just bandaids waiting for that very difficult decision. Stuart i see your point, scott, but all this money, 6 trillion thus far, i think it will make a difference to the performance of the economy on the other side of the virus and it will certainly put a floor under those people directly hurt by this virus. Last word to you, scott. It will, stuart, i agree with you, it will help, okay . But all of the money you will throw at this economy isnt going to make people feel really comfortable by sitting next to each other at a people game or going into a very crowded restaurant. When is that going to be something thats okay . They are going to fight a psychological problem with a bunch of cash. It will help a little bit but until america feels comfortable about sitting right next to each other in a stadium of 110,000 people, then we will be okay. A lot of this money is going to go to waste. It will help but its not going to have the bang for the buck, no pun intended, it normally would have. Thats all im saying. Stuart okay. Scott, hold on a second. We will bring you back when the market opens. Thats a promise. Brad blakeman, come back in again. I want to talk the politics of this. Where is joe biden . I hardly see the hes in the middle of a president ial campaign. Where is he . Make his points but they fell on deaf ears. Hes a private citizen trying to snipe from the sidelines does not help when the country is trying to be united in beating this thing. Lets face it, typically the general election is from labor day through election day. Right now, we are light years away from the general election. People arent even thinking about it. So what joe biden has to do is cool his heels and wait for an opportunity to rise again. But that opportunity is not today, its not tomorrow, they may not even have a convention. He has to hope this virus passes and the political season will start up again traditionally as it does around labor day. Stuart the fight against the virus is basically in the hands of the president of the United States, the treasury secretary and state governors. Theyve got the power. They are the ones taking the action. Right, brad . Absolutely. This is also part of the private sector, too. I have an article on foxnews. Com today about the equivalent of a war bond. I call it a gift card. Everybody should be buying gift cards which will reduce, infuse cash now to your Small Businesses, use the money later in the holidays and this is an all hands on deck. The private sector, look at the private sector, stuart. When the government pulls back and unleashes them, they are coming up with tests that normally would take a year to reach the marketplace. America is the place of innovation and solution, and with a partnership between the government and private sector, we can solve any problem. Stuart brad, ive got more on what the private sector is doing in just a moment. Right now lets get to susan. The president showed off that new abbott labs test, i think, yesterday. That looks like a breakthrough. Susan it was a breakthrough. Great infomercial for abbott labs and its rapid point of test, in five minutes you can know whether or not you have coronavirus and they are saying they will issue these devices starting on april 1st, 50,000 tests will start each and every day. We missouri tknow the u. S. Has d other economies and other countries like south korea in testing. Also health and human secretary says a million tests have been conducted but dont you want to talk about the economy as well . For instance, we just got the latest homes price index in case shiller. This solidifies the argument the u. S. Economy was on strong footing heading into the coronavirus pandemic. Home prices actually were up 3. 1 in january and thats even higher from december. In fact, from a sequential basis, many months on months, it was the fastest growth in a year. Lets see how it looks in the februarymarch month. This is backward looking. This is the january figure. Stuart yeah, thats wonderful news but its backwardlooking, as you say. Looking at a january number which is completely irrelevant to the shutdown of the economy now and through the month of april. The fed, i believe, thinks we will get up to maybe 30 unemployment. Thats a bad outlook if ever i saw one. In herman cain. This is a vital week. Actually today is a vital day. This is the day when you have to decide, you going to pay your rent, pay your mortgage, who you going to lay off. My question to you is weve got this stimulus package, its out there, the money is beginning to flow. Will it work . Will it put a floor under Small Business . Stuart, yes and heres why i believe it will work. I dont hear a lot of people talking about those people who live paycheck to paycheck, who have to pay their bills. So when the money starts flowing and employers bring back employees and pay them, that moneys going right into the economy. Thats the intent of it. Secondly, i think that the first 15 days of april are going to be critical if people adhere to the guidelines. The reason that the guidelines didnt bend the curve the first time around is because not enough people took it seriously. So i think what all of the officials are saying, the president is saying, cdc is saying, all of them are saying is ladies and gentlemen, take it seriously so we can, one, bend the curve in terms of new cases and theres some evidence that we might be doing that. Secondly, during that same period of time, you have the experts and laboratories working on drugs and working on vaccines. So lets participate and do our part but keep in mind in terms of the economy, its those people who are going to need to go out and its usually people who are living paycheck to paycheck. Stuart we should also point out what Small Business is eligible for. The treasury secretary told me yesterday right about this time, 24 hours ago, he said look, Small Businesses get eight weeks of payroll and you can get it by direct deposit at your bank or even your credit union, plus you get 25 of your overhead. That would be rent and insurance, for example. Thats a pretty rich program, herman, and it was put in place remarkably quickly. It is a very rich program. The month of april is going to be very telling. Although i believe personally we are going to start to see some results about halfway through the month if people take it seriously. Now, think about that. April is about four and a half months four and a half weeks, and if businesses are going to get eight weeks, that gives them a lot of wiggle room if they bring back their employees and they dont furlough them and they dont let them go. I think that is an excellent stimulus and i believe that it will work if people do what they are supposed to do. Stuart herman, thanks for joining us. Ive got to get this in. We appreciate you bowing heeing. Big day. Thank you. Yesterday there was a sickout at an Amazon Warehouse on staten island. Very few people actually walked out, and the leader was actually fired by amazon. On a similar note, we got workers at whole foods planning a sickout over demands for better working conditions. Grady trimble has that story for us. Grady . Reporter stuart, millions of americans are relying on grocery and delivery workers right now but some of those employees say their employers arent doing enough to keep them safe so they are calling for a sickout, for employees to call out sick today with some demands. For one, they want paid leave for workers who choose to isolate themselves. They want hazard pay at two times their hourly rate and they Want Health Care for parttime workers. This store is one of the ones that had a worker test positive for coronavirus. They would like to see stores like this shut down and undergo a deep cleaning. For whole foods part, they are already cleaning stores more thoroughly and more often than they normally would. They put up sneeze guards, theres boxes in the way here but you might be able to see through the window up here at the registers. You see the sneeze guards in front of the clerks and employees have unlimited callouts right now which actually means that they can participate in the sickout without facing repercussions or worry about losing their job. Whole food also increasing employee pay by 2 an hour, increasing overtime pay and workers who test positive for coronavirus or who are forced to quarantine will receive two weeks of paid time off. Its hard to say how many people are participating in this because you wouldnt see anything here at the store, but i